


Drown Your Sorrows In Me

by SortaSaruhiko



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Friends With Benefits, Friends to Lovers, Hufflepuff/Slytherin Inter-House Relationships, M/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-11
Updated: 2020-09-11
Packaged: 2021-03-07 01:22:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,686
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26398600
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SortaSaruhiko/pseuds/SortaSaruhiko
Summary: Cedric has an off day, and Jay is there to comfort him through it.
Relationships: Cedric Diggory/Original Male Character(s)
Kudos: 16





	Drown Your Sorrows In Me

**Author's Note:**

> Jayden is one of my original characters for Harry Potter, a Slytherin in the same year as Cedric. I'd love to talk all about him if anyone is interested in his history or details! Aside from that, enjoy this impulsively written, friends with benefits (but they act like boyfriends) piece about them. <3
> 
> (The media included is of Jayden's face claim, Chance Perdomo!)

It was a friday evening at Hogwarts - Gryffindor was playing against Ravenclaw on the quidditch field, a game that Jayden would've normally gone to attend for observational purposes, but instead he chose to lay with Cedric. He's idly running his nails along the other’s chest while they simply enjoy the silence that had been brewing between them, the result of a rough day; Cedric is a little down in the dumps, and having jay there was always soothing to the soul. It didn’t matter whether they did something or not; Jay had an aura of familiarity and comfort for Cedric, and since they'd begun to... do things together, the feeling had only increased.

This was the very reason for Jay's presence above his pectoral, fingertips gentle as they explored mindless patterns against the fabric of a thick pajama shirt printed in Hufflepuff pride. A time or two, they delve into the dip of the other teen’s collarbone, and even pause to undo the top few buttons of his shirt, preferring more skin on skin contact and sometimes earning a soft hum of appreciation in response.

Cedric's eyes had long since closed, as he's never quite able to maintain eye contact the way Jay can; they’re too intimate, the Slytherin's expressions, often intense despite their simplicity. Jayden chose to watch him, though - the flutter of his eyelids each time he blinked, the rise of his throat each time it hitched, the expand and collapse of his chest with every breath. In his eyes, Cedric knew there would be care and adoration, bundled together by a fierce calmness that would utterly  _ melt  _ him. He could cry beneath the weight of such a force, beneath the sheer  _ love _ that Jayden made visible during times when it was most needed. Jay was his pillar; he'd devote his strength to ensure he never fell.

Surely he'd die if Jayden ever stopped.

Eventually the soothing touch made its way to cradle the side of his neck, and he's drawn back to reality by a soft, “hey.” Upon opening his eyes, Cedric sees that he's correct; Jayden was his comfort, but in a way, it was overwhelming. He cared infinitely, and would do anything Cedric needed to feel whole when threads came unraveled.

Still, it was always difficult to ask for such things. It was almost painful to see so much devotion radiating from the other; it was fulfilling, but suffocating.

“How are you, really?”

Jayden was aware of Cedric's dull mood, but the question had arisen once more upon seeing the other's visage, which had originally grown calm under his touch, wrinkle into a frown. It had likely been unintentional, but whatever thoughts that had come to the teen’s mind didn't seem to be helping. Cedric found it all to be too much, the concern, just as much as it wasn't enough. His eyes fell closed again, and this time he hides his face in Jayden's chest - but extremities quickly find purchase in his hair, where soothing strokes are left against his scalp.

“Please look at me, Ced.”

When he finally complies, his eyes threaten to brim with tears. He could tell Jayden wants to ask what's upsetting him, but refuses to insist that he open up. It's such immense care that has his jaw tightening in an attempt to keep his lips from trembling. He  _ never _ cries, not even in front of Jay, but avoiding it today feels impossible. To tell the truth seems unbearable, and yet it feels deserved - how did he, someone usually so well spoken, suddenly find himself stunned into silence?

Jayden's love was an endless ocean, and Cedric would certainly drown in it if there weren’t a hand waiting to pull him free from its depths.

There's a thumb smoothing along the line of his brow as his gaze meets Jayden's, and the dampness lining his lashes is nothing short of an embarrassment. He's met with concern this time, as though Jay were ready to sail to the eye of a hurricane to lift his spirits. It sounds  _ exactly  _ like something he'd do, and the thought alone has a sob building in his chest. He barely manages to swallow it down, and his hand reaches to console the worried one still at his cheek. His grip is tight around the Slytherin’s wrist, keeping it in place for now - the gentle touch was the only thing keeping him from crumbling.

“Merlin,” he finally attempts. His voice is raw, and it's difficult to speak - it burns with words he couldn't bring himself to say, ones that insisted they come out more simplified than he wanted to convey. “I just don't deserve you.”  _ I don't deserve the way you love me. _

It had been a day filled with minor inconveniences: a food stain, a stubbed toe, a litter of dropped textbooks, an spilled ink jar, a botched potion, a tardiness warning. By the time Jay had found him sulking and drained of energy, he'd been ready to burst - but seeing how quickly, how  _ fully _ Jay was ready to provide him with as much love and care as he could muster was what pushed the first domino. Anger and stress morphed into something he could not describe, and it was at Jayden's hands that they grew stronger until they became emotions he could no longer suppress. Only now did they reveal themselves, escaping as a sob that, this time, he couldn't quite stifle as he fought to control the steadiness of each breath. It was a side of him that Jayden shouldn’t have to see.

Jayden had never seen Cedric so conflicted. Sorrow wasn't welcome at the Hufflepuff's door, and most of his anger was taken out during quidditch. Finding him so pent up had come as a surprise, but not as much as seeing him fall to whatever held him captive. Cedric's words were what shocked him most of all; if anything, it should be the other way around. Jayden hadn't always been the nicest person, and he certainly wasn't the best - but it had been  _ Cedric  _ that changed him, who took a chance on the boy from a broken home and taught him how to love. He'd been there for every bad day, every tantrum, every holiday where his family denied him. Now, it was time for him to have the favor returned.

“Yes you do.”

Cedric's head was tilted up by a delicate finger, treating him with an appreciated gentleness as he was met with a kiss to the forehead. “You deserve love,” Jayden continues, repeating the action while a patient thumbs wipe away the streaks running down his cheeks - he hadn’t quite been able to suppress those, either. “And happiness,” a final, lingering kiss is left. By the end, Cedric lets out a breath he hadn't known he was holding, and the fresh tears rolling down his face are once more removed by the same warmth that had caused them to fall.

“And you deserve me.”

Jayden pulls back just far enough to properly  _ look _ at the other, blotchy face and all, and ensures that he won't shy away by keeping his hand gentle but firm at his jaw. He's unusually silent, expression suddenly unreadable, and after a moment Cedric grows shy beneath his gaze once more. It's unlike him to  _ think _ so hard, and when he does, it's only to say something he thinks is important. It made him nervous, almost; the Slytherin’s eyes were needlessly intense, and it was paralyzing.

“You mean so fucking  _ much  _ to me, okay?”

Jay finally speaks, and Cedric nearly jumps at how unexpected it was, how lost he’d been in a gaze full of a blinding passion. He's soon wearing a typical pout, though, and the sorrow that had previously swelled in his chest was slowly pushed out by a soft fit of laughter; how  _ predictable _ it should've been to see one of Jay's famous expressions in a moment like this, even if it hadn't been the intention.

“Why are you _ laughing _ now? I  _ just _ told you how important I think you are, and that's supposed to be funny?”

Jayden's pout had only deepened into a frown, and Cedric had a sneaking suspicion that it wasn't entirely playful. He felt  _ bad _ , now, because it was easier to sink Jay's spirits than it should be - but it was nothing that couldn’t be fixed with a little tenderness and care, and that’s exactly what he would get. They were right for one another in that sense; where Jayden lacked, Cedric would  _ fill _ until he was no longer capable, and have the sentiment returned in its entirety when it was needed.

“Not at all,” he contradicts, leaning up far enough to pull the other into a lingering kiss that's almost reluctantly returned. “You… have a way of making me feel better,” the Hufflepuff settles for, because it isn't  _ quite _ a lie. It seems to satisfy Jay enough, because he's quick to follow him for another kiss - or two. Or three. They both lose count, but it cleanses their spirits, erases what may be left of doubt from either party.

“I just. I mean it, you know? I love you, and I need you to know that.” 

“I do know,” Cedric hums quietly, brims breaking out into the first smile Jay had seen from him all day. “And I love you too, Jay.” his smile is highly contagious, it seems, as they're both soon grinning at one another with poorly stifled laughter.

“Good,” Jay sighs, relief flooding his tone. Once again, he's got his fingers wound in Cedric's hair, but this time it's out of a lack of something else to occupy himself with. “For a minute, I thought I would have to prove it to you somehow.”

“Ah, you still could… in fact, I think I'm already forgetting…” the comment earns his scalp a sharp tug, to which he hums deeply at. Jay  _ knows _ he likes that, even if it had originally been an act of annoyance.

“Oh, you  _ ass _ . You're not getting anything from me anymore.”

  
“I  _ highly _ doubt you mean that.”


End file.
